Lake Padden Park is the jewel of the Bellingham Park system. This community park includes access to Lake Padden beaches, multi-use sports fields, an 18-hole golf course, dog park, and miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Through its mix of built recreational amenities and natural features, it plays an important role in providing outdoor recreation opportunities and supporting a healthy community.
The planned Recreation Assessment Study will characterize existing recreational use, as well as help ensure that appropriate future uses, and potential development are compatible with the recreational and ecological setting of the park.
SiteWorks and Herrera are collaborating on the Lake Padden Park Recreation Assessment Study. There are three phases to the work:
1. Establishing current recreation use levels to better define and understand current recreational use at Lake Padden. This will be achieved through a review of existing information and data, as well as new field-based observations and visitor surveys.
2. An inventory of the recreation and environmental setting, including the condition of existing facilities, and environmental issues and concerns. This will be accomplished through field-based assessments of the park’s recreation features and amenities, as well as its natural features and known impacts (e.g., invasive species, algal blooms, etc.).
3. Identifying potential enhancements to recreational uses, recreation facilities, and the environmental conditions at Lake Padden. This will be achieved through narrative descriptions, GIS mapping and figures, and sketches and renderings. Reports are complete at this time. Work will continue in 2025 to complete the master planning process with additional public input.
Reports
- Table of Contents – Lake Padden Rec Assessment
- Part 1 – Use Assessment
- Part 2 – Conditions
- Part 3 – Enhancements
References
- Lake Padden Watershed – Areas of concern relating to the Park.
- Trail Counter Data – Pedestrian and bicycle trail use since 2019.
- Lake Padden Park
- See results of the 2023 Lake Padden Recreational Survey.
Contacts
- Parks & Recreation Department: (360) 778-7000
- Peter Gill, Planning and Development Coordinator – pjgill@cob.org
- Laine Potter, Design and Development Manager – lrpotter@cob.org
